FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION
WORKPLACE LEARNING: HOW IT IS EXPERIENCED BY INTERNATIONAL EMPLOYEES IN A SWEDISH CONTEXT
Sofije Shengjergji
Master’s thesis:
Programme/course:
Level:
Term/year:
Supervisor:
Examiner:
30 credits
L2EUR (IMER) PDA184 Second cycle
Autumn 2019 Adrianna Nizinska Susanne Garvis
Abstract
Master’s thesis:
Programme/
Course: Level:
Term/year:
Supervisor:
Examiner:
Keywords:
30 credits
L2EUR (IMER) PDA184 Second cycle
Autumn 2019 Adrianna Nizinska
Susanne Garvis Workplace learning, international employees, Swedish workplace culture, narrative approach
Aim:
The purpose of this study is to explore the workplace learning that international employees experienced in Sweden (Gothenburg). The personal narratives of international employees aim to first understand what the role of international identity in workplace learning is. Second to identify which were the meaningful strategies or factors that empowered the international employees and support the workplace learning process.
Theory:
The theoretical frameworks that are used in this study are learning from a socio- cultural perspective, the holistic model for learning in working life from Illeris (2004) as an approach that relates to socio-cultural theory and Dewey’s theory of experience.
Method:
A narrative study is conducted to collect the empirical data, based on semi- structured interviews with international employees who live and work in Gothenburg
.Results:
In this research, it was found that international identity had a key role in the
process of workplace learning. There were cases where international identity
created some obstacles in the engagement to the workplace but on the other
hand, it contributed to the bidirectional relationship that was established
between the presence of international employees and the Swedish workplace
culture. Secondly, it is indicated that the learning process in the working
environment, was mostly informal, authentic and was occurred through
participation in work practices. The meaningful strategies or factors for
workplace learning were mentoring, asking questions, testing different ideas and
the significance of a supportive working environment. The third emerged
category of findings showed that young international employees value
workplace learning as one of the important reasons that keep them in the same
job and prevent them withdraw and search for a new job option
.Acknowledgement
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all participants, as their unique
personalities and their willingness to share their experiences were the core of this research.
Those 8 interviews gave me the chance to acquire a deeper understanding of their working life and connect with them.
I would also like to thank my supervisor Adrianna Nizinska for her continuous support, feedback and guidance in carrying out this study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my beloved family and friends who encouraged me all
these months and helped me be positive when I was struggling with writing.
Table of contents
Introduction……….………1
Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework……….…….4
Chapter 2: Literature review……….…….11
Chapter 3: Methodology……….………18
Chapter 4: Data analysis……….…………25
Chapter 5: Findings……….37
Chapter 6: Discussion……….………40
Chapter 7: Conclusion………44
References ... 46
Appendix 1: Questions of the interview……….53
Appendix 2: Interview Consent Form ………...………54
Introduction
Even though, the use of the learning concept traditionally is linked to formal education (schools and universities), since the beginning of the 1990s learning as a concept has expanded in the context of work. Nowadays workplace learning has gain popularity and it is a field that has drawn attention to wide-ranged and interdisciplinary research (Tynjälä, 2008).
The reasons behind the growing interest in workplace learning, are the rapid changes that have taken place to society and working life due to globalization, the development of information and communications technology and the increased production of knowledge in the economy.
In another words, as Lam (2006, p.214) argued ‘Globalization has become an umbrella term for what is taken place around the world in association with global integration of economies, rapid media, and information flow facilitated by new communication technologies, international migration of labor, the rise of transnational and pan-regional organizations, and resultant cultural transformations challenging traditional social structures’. Overall workplace learning, and continuous learning has become important and necessary because of the concerns (social and economic) about being attractive in the international labour market, being effective and competitive workforce, which maintains occupational competence and is adequately skilled and how workers can learn to handle continuous changes and new requirements in workplace (Billett, Harteis & Etelapelto, 2008; Nilsson & Ellström, 2012; Sennett, 2006;).
Another timely phenomenon that has affected workplaces is the immense movement of people around the globe. In today’s world, people move across country borders, around 250 billion people worldwide are living in countries other than their countries of origin (United Nations, 2015) and migration is becoming more intense than the previous years (OECD, 2016; United Nations, 2015). The reasons for this international mobility differ, some are economical and work-related like seasonal work, intra-company transferees, posted workers and other reasons refer to migration, asylum applications, refugee inflows, collective agreements between countries (e.g. the EU treaty) and international education/studies. As a consequence, of the international mobility is the great number of international employees in different societies.
Thus, the population of international employees can be characterized as salient to study from both an empirical and a theoretical perspective (Bozionelos at all, 2017).
What is more, it is useful to present some statistics from Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån, SCB) which show that the number of foreign-born employees in the Swedish market is quite big.
Also, this information is interesting since the research is exploring the learning experience in
the workplace of eight international employees who live in Sweden (Gothenburg). According
to SCB in the third quarter of 2018, the labor force was 5 183 000 persons aged 15-74. More
precisely, the 1/5 of the employed population was foreign-born persons (1 033 000) and 4 150
000 Swedish born persons. More precisely, the participants of this research are international
employees in Gothenburg region. Gothenburg was chosen because it is Sweden's second-
biggest city, it has always been international being the Scandinavian centre for global trade
since the 1700s. Also, many companies in the region have seen success on global markets and
have expanded as a result (Volvo Cars, Volvo Trucks, Chalmers University of Technology, Ericsson AB, SKF, Stena Metal International AB ext.). More than 210,000 foreign-born people were living in Gothenburg in 2018, according to agency Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån, SCB), including 91,000 foreign nationals who did not have Swedish citizenship.
It is also worth mentioning the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljö Verket) which has the mandate from the government and the Riksdag to see that the work environment fulfills the demand in the Work Environment Act that everyone should have a good and developing work environment. So, in the Swedish context developing and maintaining a good workplace for the employees from a holistic perspective is of great value. Thus, this study will try to explore a key issue for the workplace, which is learning and how it is experienced from the perspective of international employees.
Having Hammersley’s (2004) words as a point of departure, ‘research should be aimed at producing knowledge that contributes to the problem-solving capacities of some group of people’ (p. 244), investigating how all these international employees are experiencing the learning process in their new workplaces would be significant, since continuous learning is crucial for organizations to remain competitive in international markets and for individuals operating in the learning society (Tynjälä, 2008).
Thus, this research aims to investigate the experiences of workplace learning which international employees had in the different working environments in Sweden (Gothenburg). Certainly, a great amount of research has occurred in the field of workplace learning (e.g., Ashton, 2004; Billett, 2004; Fuller, Hodkinson, Hodkinson, & Unwin, 2005;
Ribeiro, 2019; Toiviainen, 2015; Tynjälä, 2008) but the aspect of international employees who join new working environments and their learning experiences is still neglected. Moreover, because international mobility is a timely phenomenon and a lot of workplaces hire international employees the value that this research will add to the existing literature, will be first a deeper understanding of what worked in the process of workplace learning for the international employees. Second, this study will add to the production of knowledge about what factors can improve and influence workplace learning in order to benefit employees from diverse background and the goals of organizations/businesses.
The research questions are :
1. What is the role of employee’s international identity, in their learning experience and engagement in the workplace?
2. Which strategies or factors are meaningful for the learning process of international workers?
The theoretical frameworks which are used to support, analyze and make sense of the empirical data are learning from a sociocultural perspective which is the broader theory, Illeris’ (2004) approach of workplace learning and Dewey’s theory of experience. As for the methodology, a narrative approach with semi-structured interviews is chosen to explore in-depth the workplace learning of the international employees by getting thick descriptions of their experiences.
The overall structure of the thesis is the following: chapter one provides a summary of the
theoretical framework which the study is based on and explains other key concepts (like
experience, Swedish workplace culture, and identity) which are used. Chapter two is a review
of the existing literature about workplace learning and presents a variety of studies, their
findings, arguments, and conclusions. This chapter aims to acquire a more holistic and informed
view about what is written in academia about the field of workplace learning, how it is
conceptualized, what factors affect workplace learning and what concepts-strategies can be
identified even in different workplaces. Chapter three presents the methodology of the study
which includes justifications about the choice of the narrative approach, the role of the
researcher, explanations about the use of semi-structured interviews, purposive sampling,
ethical considerations, and trustworthiness. Chapter four consists of the data analysis where
there is a detailed presentation of participants and the empirical data are categorized based on
the research questions. In chapter five the findings of the study are presented in a descriptive
way that answers the research questions. Chapter six refers to the discussion were the results
of the study are critically discussed and examined concerning the theoretical framework and
some existing arguments in the literature. Finally, chapter seven consists of the conclusion
and limitations of the research and also suggestions for future research are mentioned.
Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework
In the last two decades, an increase in theories about workplace learning has taken place. A variety of theories have contributed to the evaluating process, which is affected by the work in cognitive and organizational psychology, social anthropology, sociology, and management theory. The theoretical framework, which will help in understanding, making sense and evaluating the data and the progress of this research, is rooted in the sociocultural theory.
Sociocultural theory supports that society has a salient contribution to an individual’s development and learning. The theory was developed by the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who believed that community, cultural context and social interactions should be carefully examined since they have a fundamental role in the cognitive development of children (Vygotsky, 1978). This approach views learning as a social process which occurs from interactions with more knowledgeable others. In other words, a dialogue with skillful people (like teachers, parents, peers) is cooperative and collaborative. Also, it is suggested that human development and learning across the world have unique differences because of the variations in cultures (beliefs, values, realities), so they are determined socio-culturally.
Vygotsky wrote ‘Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals’ (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57). It is stated that social learning comes before cognitive development.
For Newman, Griffin, and Cole (1989) Vygotsky’s greatest contribution was not only the connection between the external and internal but the emphasis on the dialectic between the inter- and intra-psychological. The traditional view about learning belongs to the field of cognitive psychology, where learning is considered as an inner psychological process of acquiring knowledge, skills, opinions, and attitudes within the individual. So, Vygotsky (1978) highlighted the concept of interaction between intermental and intramental processes.
Intermental refers to processes where abilities have occurred in relationship with the social suggestions and intramental refers to processes where abilities exist or develop within the individual (an inner psychological plane). This concept is used as a point of departure in the theoretical framework of the current research which means that ‘Human learning always involves both elements at the same time: through the social interaction between the individual and his or her environment, the individual receives many influences or impulses which he or she may absorb through inner psychological interpretation and acquisition processes’ (Illeris, 2004, p. 4).
So, even though Vygotsky’s work refers to children’s development and learning, in this study
his approach is applied to adults’ learning in the workplace, because it is viewed as the
foundation of understanding learning and the role of social interactions and cultural contexts in
this process. Thus, learning is perceived from a sociocultural perspective and it is enriched with Illeris’ (2004) specific workplace learning concept.
Approaches which are placing workplace learning within the framework of socio-cultural theory, support certain assumptions and perspectives about the learning process and reject previous claims of theories influenced by psychology. Firstly, the focus of analysis is not only the individual learner but also the social learning, since all learning is social in some significant sense, with examples of both individual and group or community learning (Malloch et al.,2011).
Lave and Wenger (1991) also argued that the ‘proper unit of analysis of skilled human activity is a community of practice rather than an isolated individual’ (ibid., p. 147). Secondly, the primacy of learning as a product is rejected because learning is viewed as an ongoing process of participation, where learners develop by actively engaging in suitable activities (Malloch et al.,2011). Thirdly, the independence of learning from context is rejected, because contextuality shapes workplace learning (Malloch et al.,2011). According to Malloch et al. (2011), three more perspectives about learning can be included when talking about socio-culturally theory:
• A recognition that workplace learning, and performance are embodied phenomena. (Thus, they reject mind-body dualism and related dichotomies).
• A recognition that workplace learning, and performance seamlessly integrate a range of human attributes that is much wider than just rationality. So, context becomes the causal background of the learning.
• A tendency to problematize the concept of learning and to seek to re-theorize it. As such they pose a challenge to mainstream understandings of learning. (Malloch et al.,2011, p.9)
Certainly, in this research, the assumptions and perspectives which socio-cultural theory has about learning are supported because international employees’ workplace learning will be explored in relation to the context and social interactions. Also, the role of an individual’s participation and engagement in the working environment will be examined, with the intention of understanding their contribution to the ongoing process of workplace learning.
Moving on, before we explain the holistic model for learning in working life which was created by Illeris (2004) and is the key theory of this study, we will present a small introduction about his previous work which is the foundation of the holistic model. For Illeris (2009) learning indicates ‘the integration of two very different processes, namely an external interaction process between the learner and his or her social, cultural or material environment, and an internal psychological process of elaboration and acquisition’ (p.8). He constructed a model (figure 1,2) that shows the three dimensions (angles) of learning, the environment, the content and the incentive (the last two are equal psychological functions of the individual). This model (figure 1,2) shows the external interaction process between the individual (learner) and the environment and the psychological acquisition process that is an internal process of the learner.
So, according to Illeris (2009) the individual (learner) with the internal process of interaction
that takes place between his/her content (the cognitive) and incentive (the emotional) is a key factor for learning.
Figure 1. The fundamental processes of learning Figure 2. Three dimensions of learning and competence development
The holistic model for learning in working life was based on the above figures and at the individual level it is emphasizes the identity of individual. Identity also refers to psychological aspects since is a part of the individual level where the interaction of the cognitive and the emotional exists.
Figure 1. A model for learning in working life (Illeris, 2004)